Garde Nationale Sedentaire', Siege of Paris, Franco-Prussian war, 1870-1871. A French soldier with a loaf of French bread impaled on his bayonet. After the disastrous defeat of the French at Sedan and the capture of Napoleon III, the Prussians surrounded Paris on 9 September 1870. The city held out despite famine, disease and cold until a bombardment with heavy siege guns led to its surrender on 28 January 1871. Print from a series titled Souvenirs du Siege de Paris. From a private collection.